Murkowski, whose hopes for another term hinge on her winning a write-in effort, undisputedly held 90 percent of that vote with more than 92,000 ballots counted so far. That's enough for her campaign to feel she's poised to win, in spite of outstanding ballots yet to be uncounted and a pending legal case.
Another 7.8 percent of write-in ballots were challenged but counted for Murkowski's tally - coming on objections over misspellings or penmanship. Another 1.5 percent was challenged and not counted.
The plodding pace of the counting write-in votes led officials Friday to estimate the count would stretch well into next week.
Miller's campaign said observers are simply challenging votes that don't meet the strict letter of the law - including those with minor misspellings of Murkowski's name or those with legibility or penmanship issues.
Murkowski spokesman John Tracy sees it this way: "What this says to us is, they're simply trying to delay the inevitable."
The law calls for write-in ballots to have the oval filled in and either the candidate's last name or the name as it appears on their declaration of candidacy scrawled in - in this case, either "Murkowski" or "Lisa Murkowski."
But the state is using discretion to discern voter intent, pointing to prior case law as their basis in doing so. State Division of Elections Director Gail Fenumiai, the final arbiter in the counting process, said if the name is phonetic to Murkowski or there are minor misspellings, she's counting it for Murkowski. It's an effort aimed at not disenfranchising any voters.
Miller has filed a federal lawsuit, seeking to bar the state from counting ballots that do not meet the standards set out in law.
For more election-related news and information, visit our California Elections 2010 page.
This article appeared on page A - 6 of the San Francisco Chronicle
Read more: News
No comments:
Post a Comment